


Murder Mystery Birthday Dinner

by Nocticola



Series: Audrey and the Overlays (Identity) [24]
Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: Birthday, F/M, Post-Troubles (Haven)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:22:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21768310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nocticola/pseuds/Nocticola
Summary: 12:43am on December 14th 2012. Nathan gets another chance to try to solve a murder mystery dinner.
Relationships: Audrey Parker/Nathan Wuornos, James Cogan & Nathan Wuornos, Paige/Nathan Wuornos
Series: Audrey and the Overlays (Identity) [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1814905
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Murder Mystery Birthday Dinner

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't plan on writing fic for Nathan's birthday but I was talking about this with Parker-Haven-Wuornos and then I got inspired.
> 
> https://demisexualnathanvuornos.tumblr.com/post/189653494643/murder-mystery-birthday-dinner-haven-post-5x26

Nathan lays awake next to sleeping Paige, waiting for the clock to hit 12.43am. The moment he turns 37. It's usually not a big birthday. But for Nathan, this is the first one he has been excited about since he turned 12.

Of course, his birthday also means the approach of many anniverseries of deaths. His mother. Duke. Everyone they lost before the Troubles finally ended almost a year ago. That's another anniversery, a better one, that they can look forward to. There's gonna be a party, because that's what small towns do. 

Turning 37 is a much less celebrated event but it's one Nathan is actually looking forward to. For the first time in a long time, it feels like a good thing. Last year was tempered with worry over Croatoan and the fate of Haven and Duke. They didn't all survive last year, and both Haven and Nathan are still working through everything. But his life is actually working out.

It's really nice to be the police chief of a small town that is not plagued by supernatural happenings. While the situation with Paige is complicated (she has her good days and bad days, with random memories of personalities of the past occasionally hitting her) but they are working through it, and Nathan loves her. Not like he loved Audrey but it's just different, not worse.

And they have James. Nathan loves him more than he thought possible, and he refuses to make James suffer for the failures of his grandfathers (all three of them). James is still a bit too young to understand birthdays, but Nathan is really looking forward to his pancake breakfast in bed with his family.

12.41am. Not long now. Paige stirs and a small alarm goes off. Nathan looks surprised at the suddenly waking Paige, who is really quick at turning the alarm off. Paige turns to look at him and smiles.

"Hey, birthday boy." 

"Not for another minute and a half." 

"Well, you will just have to wait for your kiss them." 

"What is this?" Nathan asks, delighted. 

"You seemed so excited and particular about this that I wanted to be awake with you." 

Nathan smiles, looks over the clock. Still 12.42 for a few moments. "I love you." 

"Of course you do. Me too," Paige says and there is something in the way she says it but it slips Nathan's mind after the clock turns 12.43 and he kisses Paige.

As they kiss, he can't help but think of last year. How even with everything going on, they managed to have a lovely moment. Right now, Nathan doesn't have to worry about the fate of his town and the people he cares about. He only needs to worry whether Paige will burn his pancakes in the morning. A part of him feels conflicted. He decides to bury that part. Their happily ever after is not quite what he invisioned but they earned this.

When they pull apart, Paige looks at him with a question. 

"Why am I thinking of Baby Ruths right now?" 

Nathan doesn't really know how he should handle these situations. Paige is mostly Paige. Those are her main memories. But Audrey wasn't gone that long. Those memories pop up often. Sometimes she remembers other personalities, even ones he never met. When she does remember something to do with them, or anything he knows about, he tells her. Whether that helps with her identity situation, he doesn't know. 

"P3," is all he says. Sometimes that might be enough for her to remember. Sometimes she needs more. 

Paige gets that same look in her eye as Audrey did when she figured out a Trouble, "Right. At the station. It's stuck. But I wanted Laverne to get you one anyway. " Paige looks happy for figuring it out. Nathan smiles at her too. 

"We should get back to sleep. Lots of things to do tomorrow." 

"You're right," Paige says and curls around Nathan. She falls fast asleep and Nathan is not far behind. 

*** 

The pancakes are perfect (if a bit charred) and even though it's Friday, he has a day off. They spend the day at home and throughout the day people come by or call him to wish him happy birthday. He gets a few presents, fishing lures from Dwight, a drawing of the Bronco from Vickie (Nathan briefly wonders if she could have fixed it with it if the Troubles were still around). It's nothing big but it's everything he wanted.

Vickie didn't just come by to bring the drawing and eat some cake. She's their babysitter for the night. Well, she's more waiting to see if James wakes up, because they have to leave only after his bedtime. They put him to sleep, make sure Vickie has all the relevant numbers (and she very patiently listens to them twice). This is one of the first dates they have where it is just the two of them. Forget the memories, traumas and past life stuff: trying to develop a relationship when you already have a kid is weird. But amazing. 

Nathan got tickets for a murder mystery dinner again, and while he knows it will be different with Paige than it would have been with Audrey, he really wants to do this.

The food ends up being good and Nathan does end up guessing the murdered quite early. But his real enjoyment is in how into Paige gets into. Her cop senses are... dulled might be the word, but Nathan still enjoys seeing her brain work. She ends up not getting it but it seems like she still had a great time.

Until they walk back to the car (Nathan still misses the Bronco, but it had a good run, and he did need a more sensible car) holding hands, but something is bothering Paige. Nathan waits until they are in the car and the heat is on before he brouches the subject. 

"Was this a mistake?" 

"What? No, of course not. This is what you wanted to do. And I had fun." 

"Was this too Audrey?" 

Paige mulls it over.

"Audrey would have figured it out, right? Like you did."

These conversations are always so damn weird, "She would have gotten it before me." 

For a moment, they just sit quietly in the car. "I can't be her again. Just like when Audrey remembered Lexie, or was within Mara or combined with her, she was affected by them. I'm affected by Audrey but... I'm living Paige's life, not hers." 

"I know."

"I know you do," Paige doesn't say it bitterly or unkindly. Just matter of fact with a hint of affection. "Our lives, our relationship, it's just too weird sometimes."

"I know." He takes her hand and pulls it to his mouth for a kiss. Her skin is this his favorite touch. Closely followed, in a very different way, by James. 

"I love our life." 

Paige wrinkles her nose "Me too." 

They kiss. Life isn't perfect. Haven still has to rebuild itself. They have a son to raise. Both of them are still dealing with the aftermath of what happened a year ago. But things are working out. This was a good birthday.


End file.
